Tis The Season If Your 21

I love this time of year! Went to my first Christmas party of the year this weekend! It was my works' party and it was a good time, I work with a bunch of awesome girls! We all brought our significant others and booze, and had an awesome dinner! My bottle was a huge hit I've already had people asking me to make them a batch of their own. I thought I would share the recipe with y'all too since it is TO DIE FOR. I kid you not I could probably drink the entire 2 gallons the recipe makes but it would probably not end well for me since its made with a 190 proof grain alcohol.

Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 gallon apple juice

1 gallon apple cider

6 cinnamon sticks

3 C. sugar

750 ml (a fifth) of 190 proof grain alcohol like ever clear or clear springs

In a large stock pot (i used our crab cooker) combine the juice, cider, cinnamon sticks and sugar. Bring to a rolling boil stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Let cool completely. Once cooled add your bottle of alcohol. Bottle into desired containers. I used the jugs the juice and cider came in but made sure to inform everyone in my house that it was not what the jug said it was.

I kid you not it tastes just like apple pie filling!!! We have managed to polish off a little more than a gallon of it so far so I think I will be making more in the very near future!

I officially started my Holiday baking yesterday! Every year I bake tons of different goodies and give them away to friends and family. I managed to make 4 different types of cookies and a southern bread pudding yesterday! The cookies of course are amazing! But the bread pudding is my absolute favorite! I brought in a plate of goodies to the shop today and the girls favorite is the bread pudding too! I would eat the entire thing if I could without feeling guilty but I would probably have to run a marathon afterwards and that is not happening.

Southern Bread Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar

• 5 large beaten eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups cubed french bread, allow to sit out overnight or bake in an oven to dry it out
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup chopped glazed pecans

      For the sauce:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup your favorite whiskey/bourbon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9x2 inch pan. Place cubed bread into pan.

In a medium bowl mix together granulated sugar, eggs, and milk in a bowl; add vanilla. Pour over cubed bread and let sit for 20 minutes.

In another bowl, mix together brown sugar, butter, and pecans.

Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the top and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

For bourbon glaze sauce:

Mix the granulated sugar, butter, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir together until the sugar is melted and slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add the bourbon, stirring well. Pour over bread pudding. Best served warm! 

Ive also put raisins in it and it was pretty good but since I was giving it out to people I opted to not put the raisins in since not everyone digs em.

Loads of love and sugar!

Titleless

So yesterday I blogged about the dinner I threw together in my badass camo crockpot. I love that thing like it was my kid! I know I'm ridiculous but come on now its awesomeness is well just that awesome! I mean really who doesn't want one for them selves? It will cook you a complete dinner with little effort on your part and its my favorite color, Camouflage. That's right I said color. Camo becomes a color when it's a big part of your life and its a HUGE part of my life. My daughters room is done in Pink Realtree, mine in Mossy Oak Breakup and the living room is in a transition from country western to hunting lodge so it to will have camo accents! Back to the crockpot. I said if it turned out good I was going to post the recipe and it did turn out really well but I want to make it again and tweak it just a smidgen more to where its PERFECT and then I will post it. But for now you get to see said awesome crockpot!

Wait there's more!

There's this restaurant up in Portland called Fire On The Mountain, it's a hot wings place that I absolutely LOVE and miss dearly. Not only do they have like 12 different versions of wing sauce but they have deep fried desserts! Twinkies and Oreos, I am not a Twinkies fan at all but I did try it once and it is much better then a plain old regular Twinkie, but then again everything seems to be better fried. I always order the Oreos when I go there, the trip isn't complete if I don't. They are AMAZING!!!! Well last night I decided its been a good 8 months since I have been up there and that I wanted to try and recreate them at home. I figured they'd be good but no where as good as F.O.T.M's. WRONG! Watch out F.O.T.M I'll give you a run for your money with my Oreos!!!!I actually think I one upped them, there Halloween style! I'm actually kind of scared that I can make them just as good because I'm going to want to make them all the time and my waistline is not going to like that at all. Good thing it's hunting season and theres one more tag to fill which means tons of miles left to hike up and down the sides of massively steep units!

Tell me they don't look AMAZINGLY AWESOME!

I just realized I used amazing and awesome way to much. Awesome. Maybe I should expand my vocabulary. Then again maybe not.

I will share the recipe with you so you too can enjoy these bad boys! I promise you won't regret it, well maybe your waist will but your tase buds wont!

DEEP FRIED OREOS

2 quarts peanut oil for frying (you can use vegetable but I prefer peanut)

1 large egg

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 -1 3/4 cup pancake mix

As many Oreos as you'd like. I made 6 with plenty of batter left for at least another 6-10

Directions

1. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Whisk together the egg, milk, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a bowl until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 C of the pancake mix until no dry lumps remain. You want to make sure your batter is thick but not to thick, you want it to coat the cookie completely to form a nice outer shell. If needed slowly add in the remaining 1/4 C mix. Dip the cookies into the batter one at a time, and carefully place into the hot frying oil. Fry only 4 or 5 at a time to avoid overcrowding the deep fryer. Cook until golden brown, about a minute and a half to 2 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Transfer to clean plate dust with powdered sugar and ENJOY!!

Deep Fried Love,

Storm Season Is Here

One thing I absolutely love about living in Oregon is the fall storms we get. They can be pretty wicked! The first official storm of the season came over night and waking up to the wind and rain this morning was actually peaceful to me. I wanted so badly just to stay in bed and listen to it blow, unfortunately duty called and that meant getting out of bed at the wonderful time of 5:30 a.m. When summer reached to an end and school season had returned I was dreading the 5:30 mornings that came with it. It was so nice to sleep in a few extra hours during the summer, it was almost like I was back in school. Unfortunately it's not me, (I didn't time warp back but how cool would it be if I could) it's my mini me. She started the 1st grade this year and so far is still loving it! I believe a good education is vital, hence why we get up so damn early to get ready for school. I chose to send her to a school 35 miles away because of their academics. If I could afford the commute I would up and move to Elkton in a heart beat. The town is so tiny but the members in the community are amazing and everyone gets involved with the school and its going ons! Amazingly I don't have to commute there at all unless I want to. They are a charter school so they have kids that come from all over and there are enough kids between Elkton and Reedsport that there is a bus that comes to town at 6:40 am and brings them home at 4:45 pm. Not only is she getting a great education (did I mention shes at a 2nd grade reading level) but it works great with my schedule. She doesn't always ride the bus either, my neighbor whom is also a close family friend is a teacher up there so she takes her and brings her home for me most days. She has come out of her shell so much since I transferred her up to Elkton and I have been so pleased with how much she has grown I hope to be able to send her there until she graduates and if for some reason they ever change their boundaries I WILL move just so she can still attend.

I love how I initially started blogging with the idea of storms, fall, and comfort food and got side tracked into going on and on about Keelie's school. This however is nothing unusual for me I will start a conversation/letter and talk about 10 million other things before finishing what I originally started to say. I have dozens of "ooooh look something shiny" moments in a single day, keeps my life interesting I think. So back on to what I initially set out to blog about. I was uber excited about the weather this morning and decided it called for soup for dinner. I first set out to make clam chowder but realized all the clams we had dug over the summer were frozen as a brick so I decided I will make that this weekend, my next idea was venison stew!!! Ive already eaten a good portion of my deer so why not stick with it and make some stew! I haven't had venison stew since I was a little kid at my grandparents house. Which reminds me forget using a recipe out of a book I'm calling grandma! I'm glad now that the venison too was frozen because I want my grandmas recipe!!! Comfort food with a dash of nostalgia! Then came idea # 3. Chicken and Dumplings. My mother makes the best ever and so I picked up the telephone and dialed her up, unfortunately for me she was sleeping. I brought her home from the hospital this weekend and she is still working on recovering from her whole ordeal which could be a book in its own. I decided my mom is one of the best cooks ever and has even worked as a chef in a 5 star restaurant and shes been self taught no schooling, nothing, just trial and error. I hardly ever see that women use a measuring cup either, it baffles me how she can make things over and over again and its always just as good if not better and never use the same measurements. Anyways back to what i was trying to get at, since I'm her off spring I'm hoping the cooking skill is in the genetics! I already know I can bake up a storm, I love baking and am awesome at it! Just saying! I decided to be like my mom and just throw some things together! So as we speak I've got chicken and not yet the dumplings (that will happen when I'm finally home) cooking in my awesome camo crockpot at home! If all goes well and it turns out as good as I am thinking it will I will post the recipe. If it takes like hell I am taking no claim to it, the garbage disposal will get it and "take out" will be waiting before anyone knows i even attempted to create a dinner!

Oh and one more thing, y'all have to try this!!!! I love anything pumpkin and when I saw this in a magazine at work I had to order it! Pumpkin Pie Liquor!!!!! It is trouble in a bottle!

Hugs,